Network data storage is typically provided by an array of disk drives integrated with large semiconductor cache memory. A file server is used to interface the cached disk array to the network. The file server performs mapping of a network files to logical block addresses of storage in the cached disk array and move data between a network clients and the storage in the cached disk array. The file server use a network block services protocol in a configuration process in order to export to the network client logical volumes of the network-attached storage, which become local pseudo-disk instances. See, for example, Jiang et al., Patent Application Publication US 2004/0059822 A1 published Mar. 25, 2004, entitled “Network Block Services for Client Access of Network-Attached Storage in an IP Network,” incorporated herein by reference. Network clients typically use a network file system access protocol to access one or more file systems maintained by the file server.
A Hypervisor, sometimes referred to as a virtualization manager, is a program that allows multiple operating systems, which can include different operating systems or multiple instances of the same operating system, to share a single hardware processor. Virtual infrastructure provides a layer of abstraction between computing, storage and networking hardware. The applications running on it gives administrators the advantage of managing pooled resources across the enterprise and enables the deployment of systems as virtual machines which are representation of a real machine using software that provides an operating environment which can run or host a guest operating system. Hypervisor by VMWare, provides a robust virtualization layer that enables each server to host multiple secure and portable virtual machines running side by side on the same physical server sharing the physical server resources that dramatically increases hardware utilization and decreases capital cost. Storage space from data storage system is presented to the Hypervisor system as volumes with logical unit numbers or, in the case of a network-attached storage, as NFS volumes. When the Hypervisor discovers a logical unit number, the LUN is treated as a single storage target. The LUN can then be addressed as a raw disk for a raw disk map, or managed as a VMFS Volume or an extent of a multi-extent VMFS Volume.
There remains a challenge of accessing the same data set by all nodes simultaneously. Scalability of the storage sharing is critical as the number of blades can increase dynamically, driven by the needs for new types of application. Storage access topology has direct impact on overall performance and resource utilization.
The storage technology described above, in combination with a continuing increase in disk drive storage density, file server processing power and network bandwidth at decreasing cost, has provided network clients with more than an adequate supply of network storage capacity at affordable prices. When consolidating thousands of Virtual Machines, thousand times the storage of a single virtual machine in the core is required. This would also require thousand I/Os on a single shared resource.
Reducing the time it takes to perform an I/O and reducing the number of physical I/Os in combination of de-duplication of the storage would be advancement in the data storage computer-related arts. This is becoming increasingly important as the amount of information being handled and stored grows geometrically over short time periods and such environments add more file systems and data at a rapid pace.